Heightened anticipation for spot-based bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. and the eventual inflows supercharged bitcoin’s run-up to all-time highs, and now Hong Kong’s regulators are reportedly inching closer to approving similar funds, news that thus far has been mostly unnoticed in crypto circles. These vehicles, however, could open the floodgates for Chinese investors looking for a new haven next to gold, overseas real estate and stocks in which to store their wealth. “[They] will be a big deal,” Noelle Acheson, macro analyst and author of Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, said in an email interview with CoinDesk. “It’s not just for the access to hedge funds and family offices based in the region; it’s also because of the access it gives to mainland investors.”